My opinions about curated app stores has not really changed. Do not give up platforms, such as Win32, that allow you to publish without the approval of one or more organized bodies. Even if the company doesn’t use it to suppress content that they don’t like now, they might in the future and governments might even force them to.

That aside…

I’m not exactly sure when this happened, but NVIDIA has a version of their Control Panel software on the Windows Store. The screenshots show that they are running the 397.64 Game Ready drivers on a pair of 1080 Tis, which would suggest sometime after May 9th. It is the typical control panel that we’ve known and used for probably around fifteen-plus years now. The app does not include GeForce Experience or anything like that. Beyond helping devices that cannot run Win32 software, needing to rely upon Windows Store and Windows Update, it demonstrates two things. First, it is another example of a Win32 app that was packaged into a Windows Store app. Second, it shows that apps can still have access to drivers and other low-level things.

One last funny note: the system requirements do not specify that your GPU needs to be from NVIDIA.

If you are one of those wise souls who held of on installing to the new Windows 10 Update, so that others can act as the canaries in the coal mine we now have some advice. If you are running an NVIDIA GPU, ensure you have plenty of space on your OS drive. There have been reports of users losing files from their drives if there is not enough space for the entire 10GB update to download to; if there isn't enough space then the update deletes all non-system files. The Inqurier is quick to point out that the tool you would use to resolve this problem, Disk Cleanup, no longer exists once you perform this update.

There have also been reports that systems with certain versions of Intel Display Audio drivers have seen greatly increased CPU usage after the update and this has been draining batteries quickly. According to The Register, Microsoft is no longer pushing the update to machines that would be affected. You can check out the driver version here.

"Usually though, we'd expect it to affect a small number of users. This time however, the problems seem to come from anyone with an Nvidia GPU and anyone… erm… with files."

Buyers have the choice of either the quad-core Intel Core i5-8500H or the six-core i7-8750H. On the graphics side, the Alienware m15 will be offered with an "overclocked" GTX 1060, as well as with the GTX 1070 Max-Q.

Display options on the Alienware m15 include two 1080p options, a 60Hz TN and a 144Hz IPS, as well as a 4K 60Hz IPS panel. Despite the availability for a high-refresh display, none of these displays seem to support G-SYNC variable refresh technology.

Considering the relatively small size for a gaming notebook, the Alienware m15 still features an impressive array of ports including Ethernet, 3 USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI 2.0 as well as Mini DisplayPort 1.3.

The Alienware m15 continues support for the Alienware Graphics Amplifier, which utilizes a proprietary PCI-Express cable to connect external graphics to a given notebook. While the m15 also features a Thunderbolt 3 port, it remains unclear if Thunderbolt 3 graphics will also be supported.

The Alienware m15 will become available on October 25th, at a starting price of $1,299.99.

For those of you familiar with the most recent STRIX video cards, the GTX 1080 Ti, and the RX Vega 64, the design of the RTX 2080 Ti will be immediately familiar. The same symmetric triple fan setup is present, contrasted against some of the recent triple fan designs we've seen from other manufacturers with different size fans.

Just as with the STRIX GTX 1080 Ti, the RTX 2080 Ti version features RGB lighting along the fan shroud of the card.

We don't know how many sales the new Turing-based GPUs NVIDIA has made but it certainly has generated a lot of reviews. [H]ard|OCP have been working hard on overclocking the Founders Edition RTX 2080 and recently published their findings. They tried three different methods; simply setting the fan to 100%, running NVIDIA's new scanner tool, which does not void your warranty, as well as a manual overclock. They ran into some issues with the scanner tool and limited success with only increasing the fan speed, unsurprisingly the manual OC provided the best results. That manual overclock managed to hit and maintain 2055MHz on the core, which some noticeable improvements.

"We finally got in the RTX 2080 video cards we purchased, and we have been putting those to good use. While Brent is banging out a real-world gameplay preview, I have been seeing just where our RTX 2080 Founders Edition ends up in terms of overclocking. We finally got a solid handle on what our particular Turing GPU and memory are capable of."

Our First Look

Over the years, the general trend for new GPU launches, especially GPUs from new graphics architecture is to launch only with the "reference" graphics card designs, developed by AMD or NVIDIA. While the idea of a "reference" design has changed over the years, with the introduction of NVIDIA's Founders Edition cards, and different special edition designs at launch from AMD like we saw with Vega 56 and Vega 64, generally there aren't any custom designs from partners available at launch.

However with the launch of NVIDIA's Turing architecture, in the form of the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, we've been presented with an embarrassment of riches in the form of plenty of custom cooler and custom PCB designs found from Add-in Board (AIB) Manufacturers.

The Tech Report takes a look at the less of the two new Turing cards, the RTX 2080. It has not been as well received as the 2080 Ti as it is very similar in performance to the GTX 1080 Ti. One possible area which the new card might hold an advantage is in frametimes, with the new card providing smoother performance, as opposed to raw frames per second. As their review shows, this is true in some cases but not all; see if your preferred games might benefit from the new RTX while we await releases which support the new features present on the RTX series.

"Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2080 brings Turing to a price point that's more accessible than the flagship RTX 2080 Ti. At $800, however, the Founders Edition card we're testing still has to contend with the GTX 1080 Ti in today's games. We see whether the RTX 2080 can establish a foothold as gamers await its future potential."

NVIDIA's Turing-based 2000 series graphics cards are finally official, and partners are unleashing all manner of custom cards based on the new GPU. EVGA is launching the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 under a new XC Ultra Gaming series that uses a translucent shroud (with a very Gameboy Color nostalgia vibe) that wraps a dual fan ICX2 cooler in customizable white, black, and red trim and a large multi-heatpipe cooler to pair with the Turing GPU and GDDR6 memory.

EVGA is introducing four XC Ultra Gaming series cards, with two RTX 2080 Tis and two RTX 2080s which differ in price and boost clockspeeds. The graphics cards feature 2.75 slot designs with ICX2 coolers and hydro dynamic bearing fans. EVGA claims the cooler is 14% cooler and 19% quieter. The taller card design reportedly allows for a taller fan hub and thicker blades that can push air through the thicker heatsink without extra noise (whereas its 2-slot cards use a smaller fan hub with more blades to try to balance things). Display outputs include three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one USB-C VirtualLink.

The EVGA RTX 2080 Ti XC Ultra Gaming comes in two models: the 11G-P4-2383-KR and 11G-P4-2382-KR. Memory clocks on the 11GB of GDDR6 memory is clocked at 14000 MHz on both models, but the $1,199.99 11G-P4-2382-KR features a 1635 MHz boost clock for its 4352 CUDA cores while the $1,249.99 11G-P4-2383-KR takes things up a notch to a 1650 MHz boost clock. Of course, enthusiasts can use EVGA's Precision X1 or NVIDIA's new OC Scanner software to overclock on their own. The RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards have 2 8-pin power connectors.

As far as the RTX 2080 XC Ultra Gaming cards, the $799.99 08G-P4-2182-KR and the $849.99 08G-P4-2183-KR pair a TU104 GPU with 2944 CUDA cores with 8GB of GDDR6 memory clocked at 14000 MHz. The cheaper model features a 1815 MHz boost clock while the higher priced model clocks in at 1850 MHz. EVGA's RTX 2080 XC Ultra Gaming cards use a 6+8 pin power connectors.